More times than one on my fitness journey, I asked myself, should you workout everyday to gain muscle? No. The answer is no, and there are many reasons why. All of which we will cover in this article.
Muscle building is both an art and a science. It is up to you to take care of what you need to do in order to build the muscle. You are going to need weight training, intensity, sleep, calories, and rest in order to build the body you desire.
Lucky for us, I know all of the right things to do in order to build muscle. I must have gone to the gym 1,000 times before I finally figured out the right formula for gaining muscle. And then I built 20+ pounds of muscle in year 1 naturally.
The funny thing is, I used to workout 5-6 days a week. Sometimes 7 days a week if I was really trying to “build a ton of muscle.” It turns out, that’s not the way it works, and I was just wasting my time.
I ended up creating my own workout plan for muscle building after years of research. It’s only 3 days per week, and it’s what I used to build that 20+ pounds of muscle. I used a pen and a paper, but if you want full access to everything you need, it’s available in All Workouts: Personal Trainer (iOS | Google Play). The actual workout plan is called 3 DAY OVERLOAD!
There is no shortcut to gaining muscle
Our desire to want to workout everyday to build muscle quickly shows our desire for quick results. We are hoping that if we can just go to the gym everyday, that will increase our results.
This couldn’t be farther from reality. Our muscles need recovery in order to repair. When we try to work them out everyday, we are not allowing them ample time to recover.
Think about it this way. Every time you go to the gym to build muscle, your muscles experience micro tears in them. During sleep and rest, your body repairs those tears. Over time, this is what makes your muscles bigger.
The more you understand this process, the more you will understand why you need rest and that there is no shortcut to gaining muscle. You need 7-10 hours of sleep every night to have your body in the perfect state to build muscle.
Why should you workout everyday to gain muscle? You shouldn’t, and that is the point. There are no shortcuts here. Only dedication and commitment.
Put your body in a state of muscle building perfection
Working out 3-4 days per week is just a start. You want to put your body in the best position to build a ton of muscle. And there are many ways to do that. For starters, you need to be eating more calories that you burn. This is called a caloric surplus.
You cannot build muscle in a caloric deficit! For those that don’t know what a caloric deficit or surplus is, I recommend learning how to calculate your maintenance calories.
What else should we be doing in order to make sure we are building muscle? We know that you need to rest and sleep a lot, but we need to do more.
If you are struggling to go from a thin body to a muscular body, it’s time to evaluate what you are doing that might be a burden to muscle building. For me, I wasn’t eating enough calories. For you, it might be something different.
Are you a big beer drinker? In many circumstances, alcohol stops muscle growth. Some people cannot imagine a life without partying, but you might want to decide what is more important to you. Drinking or building muscle. It makes a difference.
The last thing I will say here is to be careful how much cardio you are doing. Cardio is obviously good for your cardiovascular health, but it will put a damper on your muscle building. And if you struggle to put on muscle to begin with, it will definitely lead to more struggle.
Make sure you are doing the right workouts for building muscle
As I mentioned in the introduction, I used to think working out everyday would lead to more rapid muscle building. It turns out, less is more when you are struggling to put on muscle.
I switched from 5-7 days per week to 3 days per week and reaped the benefits. As long as you are putting your body in a great state for muscle building, you shouldn’t have any issues if you are following a workout plan.
Some of the best exercises for building muscle are called compound exercises. These are exercises that work more than one muscle at a time, with a focus on a large muscle group.
Examples of compound exercises include squats, deadlifts, pullups, barbell bentover rows, and barbell bench presses. This is not an exhaustive list, but you will definitely find that you could build a solid workout plan based around these exercises alone.
With that being said, you should really take a look at our app. We have FREE built in workout plans that will take the guesswork out of what to do. All of our plans were designed for building muscle as fast and efficiently as possible. Just choose a 3 or 4 day workout plan and get started.
Getting started is one of the keys here. Workout 3-4 days per week, and do it consistently. You are bound to start building muscle.
Main Point: Should you workout everyday to gain muscle?
It is very obvious at this point that I do not support working out every day to gain muscle. You might be one of the lucky ones that has a genetic advantage to rapid muscle repair. Unfortunately that is not reality for most people.
The best schedule for weight training to build muscle, especially when just starting out, is 3-4 days per week. Try to do every other day to give your body a rest in between. You can’t workout Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and expect the best results. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would be a better option for a 3 day workout plan.
Resting and sleep is incredibly important. Your body repairs muscles when sleeping, and it is a time consuming process. The more you sleep, the more chance you are giving your muscles to repair and recover.
Remember to keep in mind what you are consuming, and activities that you are doing. In order to build muscle, your body needs to be in a good state. Be sure to eat at a caloric surplus.
If you are drinking excessively or doing too much cardio, that might be one reason your muscles are not growing at the rate you were hoping for.
After reading this article, what do you think about muscle building and your body? Should you workout everyday to gain muscle? I would love to hear from you.
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